A Darker Shade of Blue
A Police Officer’s Memoir
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5,0 • 1 valoració
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Descripció de l’editorial
A transparent first-hand account of a Black officer maneuvering through three terrifying yet rewarding decades of policing, all while seeking reform in law enforcement
When 16-year-old Keith Merith finds himself pulled over, berated, and degraded by a white police officer, he’s outraged. He’s done nothing wrong. But the officer has the power, and he doesn’t. From that day on, he vows to join a police service and effect change from within.
Twelve years and a multitude of infuriating applications later, Merith is finally hired by York Regional Police. Subjected to unfair treatment and constant microaggressions, he perseveres and gradually rises through the ranks, his goal of systemic change carrying him through. After a stellar career, Merith retires at the rank of superintendent, but his desire for sustained and equitable reform is stronger than ever.
In A Darker Shade of Blue, Merith shares both his gut-wrenching and heart-warming experiences and advocates for immediate police reform in a balanced and level-headed manner. He praises the people in blue, but he also knows on a visceral level that there are deep issues that need to be rectified — starting with recruitment. He knows that law enforcement agencies should reflect the communities they serve and protect, and that all citizens should be treated equally. Entrusted with the duty to serve, Merith delivers an evocative perspective of policing by providing the opportunity to walk in his shoes, as a Black man, and as a police officer on the front lines.
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Retired Canadian police superintendent Merith recounts his experiences as a Black man on the force in his searing debut. As a teenager in the early 1970s, Merith was profiled by a white police officer in a parking lot, and the encounter prompted him to join law enforcement himself in order to "provide a level of policing that would incorporate character, decency, respect, and fairness that this man and others like him would not provide." When he entered the profession after graduating from Humber College Institute in 1980, he found the road more difficult than he expected. From white coworkers who were openly outraged at the thought of a Black man in uniform to a near-constant barrage of racial jokes and deep institutional biases, Merith writes at length of the constant "needling" he experienced as he climbed the ranks of Ontario's York Regional Police over several decades. He also outlines specific reforms he implemented as superintendent and would like to see expanded, including diversity-forward recruitment tactics that promote "officers of colour representing the mosaic of province," and training that emphasizes caution when it comes to the use of lethal force. Throughout, Merith nimbly balances critique and pragmatism, claiming pride in his service while asserting that "until equity and justice for all are applied in the manner consistent with the meaning allocated to those words, we the aggrieved, in and out of uniform, beaten and bruised but not defeated, will never stop fighting for change." This poignant account examines a thorny set of issues with clear eyes and bracing authority.
